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Perhaps the next step for Parks Canada is installing windowless basements or corporate cubicles in the midst of the mountains, but for now, a wireless wilderness is plenty bad enough.

That’s the plan, as backwards as progress sometimes seems.

“We’re looking for companies that can provide Internet hotspots for parks across the country,” said Andrew Campbell, vice-president of visitor experience for Parks Canada.

“If you look at Banff for instance, you might have a hotspot at the visitor’s centre, one at the Cave and Basin and then a couple at the campgrounds.”

And you thought burnt marshmallows and a leaky tent were the worst disasters that could befall a family camping trip.

The contract tender issued by Parks Canada states the agency wants to install wireless Internet hotpots in up to 50 locations this year, and triple that number by 2016.

With just 44 national parks in all of Canada, ranging in size from tiny gems like Point Pelee in Ontario to vast expanses like Banff and Jasper, that pretty much assures Internet access for even the most rustic parcels of protected wilderness.

It’s meant to be a good thing. It isn’t.

Peace, solitude and a chance to actually socialize in a screen-free environment can now be declared extinct, in what had been a rare no-tech oasis in a country overwhelmed with Wi-Fi.

Set up the tent or RV, chop up some wood, and then chat or play games with family and friends.

So a visit to the parks went for many, on weekends when the only technology around had “Coleman” written on it.

No Internet and spotty, expensive cellphone data gave Canadians a priceless chance to unplug, unwind and rediscover human interaction, while escaping the frantic pace of work, e-mails, texts, online banking and so on.

The parks were a refuge, treasured not only because they were untouched by the modern world, but because visitors were forced to leave the modern world behind.

Given society’s addiction to screens, it’s a matter of time until the glow of the fire is replaced by the glow of campers staring into cyberspace — and with that, the sense of a small village in the woods is dead forever.

Now, with marshmallows, there will be Netflix.

Friends sitting around the fire will fill the silence with glances at their iPhones, and from there, any sense of sanctuary will cease to exist.

Instead of staring at the stars in wonder, kids and teens will simply be staring at screens.

Of course, you can always ban your offspring from using the Internet — but just wait until the boss finds out your campground is plugged in.

That business deal or question from the office won’t wait. And so the desperately needed solitude is gone.

You can blame today’s youth: Parks Canada does.

Faced with a dip in attendance by younger Canadians, Campbell says Parks Canada has decided it has no choice but to cater to their demand for constant online connection.

“We’ve heard a lot from that age group that this is one of those services, in places like campgrounds or the visitors centre, that they would feel is beneficial,” said Campbell.

He says Parks Canada wanted to know what is keeping younger Canadians away from places like Banff, and it seems they just can’t be without their Wi-Fi.

“We were looking at some of the barriers people have to coming to National Parks and one of the ones youth have identified is they want to be able to use the types of devices and tools that they use on a daily basis,” said Campbell.

“We have a youth council that says ‘you don’t block people from taking a paper or pen into the parks, and we use this as a way to communicate with friends.’

“So it does come from that perspective, trying to make sure we offer the kind of things Canadians are looking for.”